Insulation Displacement Connectors (IDCs) are widely used in the electronics industry for electrically connecting the wires of a cable to the wires of another cable or to a piece of equipment. While IDCs vary widely in their design, all such connectors typically include one or more electrical contacts, each having a first end designed for making an electrical connection with a corresponding contact of a mating connector. The opposite end of each contact has a notch for receiving one of the wires of the cable terminated by the IDC. When a wire of the cable is pressed into the notch of a corresponding contact of the IDC, the notch displaces a portion of the insulation about the wire. In this way, the conductor within the wire makes an electrical connection with the contact. Thus, the need to strip or otherwise remove the insulation about each wire in the cable prior to attaching the IDC is eliminated.
Even though the IDC obviates the need to strip each wire prior to attachment, the process of attaching an IDC to a multi-conductor cable still can be tedious and time-consuming. For many types of IDCs, an operator must manually press each wire of the cable into the notch of a corresponding contact. Once each wire has been pressed into the notch of a corresponding contact, a portion of the wire often extends beyond the contact. Invariably, the portion of the wire extending beyond the contact is longer than necessary, giving rise to an "excess portion" of the wire that must be trimmed. For an IDC having a large number of contacts, trimming the excess portion of the wires can be tiresome.
Thus, there is a need for a process for accomplishing simplified attachment of the wires of a cable to the corresponding contacts of an IDC.